Details

The monument is a bowl barrow located on a local high point in woodland 450m
south-east of Capesthorne Hall. It includes an earthen mound measuring 20m in
diameter and up to 2m high.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

Despite some minor disturbance to the monument by a combination of rabbit
holes and tree roots, the bowl barrow 450m south-east of Capesthorne Hall
survives well. It is a rare survival in Cheshire of an unexcavated example of
this class of monument and will retain undisturbed archaeological deposits
within the mound and upon the old landsurface beneath.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Sainter, J D, Scientific Rambles Around Macclesfield, (1878), 156
Thacker, A, The Victoria History of the County of Cheshire, (1987), 85
Other
Darvill,T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)

Source: Historic England